An ethnic group of the Jews that migrated first to Italy, spread throughout central and Eastern Europe and thence to the Americas.

Tanakh

Hebrew Bible (Jewish Scriptures)

Ghetto

An urban area occupied by those rejected by society, such as quarters for Jews in some European cities.

Talmud

Great compendium of Jewish law and lore

Synagogue

"Meeting places" to read the Torah and to worship communally, praying simply and directly to God.

Halakah

Jewish legal decision and the parts of the Talmud dealing with laws.

Shekinah

settling of the divine presence of God, especially in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Hasidism

Path of ecstatic piety

Sephardim

(Second largest group) descendants of those who migrated to Spain from West Asia in the 8th and 9th C.

Kabbalah

(Middle Ages)-esoteric teachings. Jewish mystical tradition.

Sabbath

Day of the week set aside for rest and worship

Kosher

Ritually acceptable foods, applied to foods in Jewish Orthodoxy.

Reform or Liberal Judaism

Began in the mid 19th C.- help modern Jews appreciate their religion rather than regarding it as meaningless.

Messiah

The "anointed," the expected King and deliverer of the Jews

Rabbi

Teacher; the ordained spiritual leader of a Jewish congregation.

Midrash

Literature delving into the Jewish torah.

Midrash

Literature delving into the Jewish torah.

Pentateuch

"five books of Moses" that appear at the beginning of the Tanakh-most sacred part of the scriptures

Minyan

A quorum of ten adults males-had to be present for community worship.

Orthodox Judaism

Encourage Jews to live by halakah and segregate themselves from non-Jewish secular culture

Bar Mitzvah

Ceremony celebrating coming of age, at thirteen, in Jewish Boys.

Bat Mitzvah

Non-orthodox congregations for girls

Prophets

a person chosen to speak for God and to guide the people of Israel

Holocaust

The murder of almost six million European Jews by the Nazi-leadership of Germany during

Diaspora

mass-dispersions of people with common roots, expulsion of Jews from the Middle East

Covenant

A unique belief introduced into Jewish theology-idea of a special covenantal relationship between the Jewish people and God.

Monotheism

Belief in one god

Shabbat

primarily a day of rest and spiritual enrichment.

Rosh Hashanah

New Years Day. Is a time for spiritual renewal in remebance of the original creation of the world

Yom Kippur

Day of Atonement. A day set aside for fasting, depriving oneself of pleasures, and repenting from the sins of the previous year.

Yom Haatzuma-ut

holiday celebrating Israel's independence in 1948.

Yom Hashoah

Holocaust remembrance day

Sukkot

8-Day fall harvest festival. Sukkot is also known as the Festival of Booths and the Feast of Tabernacles. A simple outdoor booth is built and decorated as a dwelling place for 7 days. Done as a ritual to remind the faithful that their real home is in God, who sheltered their ancestors on the way from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan.

Hanukkah

Feast of dedication. Also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple

Purim

Commemorates the legend of Esther.

Pesach

(Passover): Celebrates the liberation from bondage in Egypt and the springtime advent of new life. It was the tenth plague, death to all firstborn sons of the Egyptians, that finally brought the pharaoh to relent. Marked by a sedar dunner, with the eating of Matzah.